The debate in bioethics. Relief of suffering and risk of mal praxis

Abstract

In this conference the author exposes his experiences as a doctor. Especially for the relationships that are established with patients. Confident and intimate relationships, noble and generous. Experiences in the old hospitals with all their limitations and with the luminous dedication of those who handled them with effort. Places of true attention to health. Then we have seen the irruption of the state administration that with its interests and procedures can distort human contact and the primary concern for the good of the sick and for the progress of medicine. On the other hand there are the very high costs of modern medicine and its growing trend to technology,with all its benefits but also with its depersonalization and illusion of omnipotence. There are some disturbing symptoms: Patients have a higher life expectancy, close to one hundred years. Doctors and hospitals are investigated by potential patients via the internet before being elected ... Mistrust is fostered. Then there have been reforms to the health system that regulate economic conditions and remunerations, but in the end prevails the postponement of the poorest and the preference for the rich. And so the business is taking over the nobility of medicine. Time also influences. The time elapsed, the expected and also the dedicated to the attention of the person. On the other hand there is the phenomenon of claims for compensation for medical malpractice, which reach an unfortunate economic dimension that leads to the dramatic game of insurance and its consequences as defensive medicine with its high costs. And then the question arises whether the first thing is patient care, their person, their health... If we can recover the essence of medicine and act right and honorable… The way of this hope is in the full and cordial dedication to the people, to the suffering person who puts his life in the physician’s hands.